Joey Salvaggio of Gabriel Kreuther Restaurant in New York City was the big winner at Devour! Chowder Smackdown. This event remains one of the most popular at the festival in western Nova Scotia. (Rod Charles photo for Vacay.ca)
At the 13th annual Devour! The Food Film Fest in Wolfville, I gobbled down several salty handfuls of gratons. A delicious snack consisting of crispy fried pig skins, gratons — aka cracklings or scratchings — are a delicacy south of the border.
At one memorable Bourbon & Bites Workshop chef Stephen Stryjewski, owner of several award-winning restaurants including Cochon in New Orleans, teamed with Beam Suntory American Whiskey National Brand Ambassador Ray Daniel. Along with Daniel’s signature cocktails, Stryjewski served up melt-in-your-mouth gratons with bourbon cane syrup, chicken liver mousse, and pickled peaches.
Normally, an authentic dish like this made by an actual Louisiana chef would cost you at minimum the price of a plane ticket. But lucky for us Stryjewski — along with several other talented Canadian and international chefs — were able to participate in the Devour! festival.
Attendees at Stephen Stryjewski’s workshop were treated to gratons. Winner of the 2011 James Beard Foundation “Best Chef South,” Stryjewski is operates numerous notable restaurants in New Orleans, including Cochon. (Photo courtesy Bridget Havercroft Photography / Devour! The Food Film Fest)
Focusing on a theme of French cuisine and culture, Devour! The Food Film Fest brought together the fine French, Acadian, Québecois, Cajun, and Creole cuisine in a transformative food and film experience. The festival included annual favourites such as Devour! Chowder Smackdown and the Great Devour! Cajun Chicken Community Supper, an event that supports regional food banks.
In a culinary workshop with two-Michelin-starred chef Gabriel Kreuther, I enjoyed Tartare of Yellowfin Tuna and Diver Scallop seasoned with Osteria Caviar and Atlantic Cod Crusted with Chorizo, Coco Bean Pureé and Xeres Vinegar Jus. Chef Nathalie Goupilliere from St. Pierre et Miquelon served Scallop Carpaccio and Seaweed Tartar Labneh of fresh goat’s cheese, cloudberry, and dandelion elixir.
The festival was a demonstration of fine dining mixed with fast, tasty treats all tied to Acadian culture, which is known for its resilience amid a painful history.
In June 2015, chef Gabriel Kreuther opened his eponymous restaurant, fusing his classic French training and Alsatian heritage with his love of New York City. At his Devour! workshop, one of the dishes he made was Tartare of Yellowfin Tuna and Diver Scallop seasoned with Osteria Caviar. (Photo courtesy Bridget Havercroft Photography / Devour! The Food Film Fest)
Devour! The Food Film Fest managing director Lia Rinaldo is thrilled with the way Wolfville and the surrounding community have embraced the event. A university town, Wolfville has turned into a foodie destination, attracting devotees from Halifax, which is about two hours by car away, and around the world.
“I don’t think I would have ever envisioned this end game where we sit right now when we first started, it was much more sort of humble with rustic means,” Rinaldo says. In January the Province of Nova Scotia announced a $2.2 million investment toward renovations to Devour! Studios in Wolfville to allow it to be a permanent home for the festival, and provide space for arts events and local food retailers.
“To be sitting here in this studio space 13 years later is an incredible feeling. I never thought I would be building a food film festival that would turn into a cultural complex,” Rinaldo adds.
Louisiana TV personality and cookbook author Patrick Mould gave hungry audience members at the Wolfville Farmers’ Marktet a sample of Smoked Duck and Sausage Gumbo with Steamed Rice. (Rod Charles photo for Vacay.ca)
Among the culinary talents present at the 2023 edition were France’s Pierre Michael Martin of the celebrated Le Pimousse in Lyon, chef Megan Bickford of The Commander’s Palace. Canadian culinary masters included Gene Cormier of Euston Park Social in Moncton, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia’s Shane Robicheau and Christophe Measson, the resident executive pastry chef at the Shaw Ottawa Convention Centre.
They were joined by world-renowned filmmaker Phil Comeau to explore the roots and future of French cuisine on screen and the plate.
Michael Howell, executive director of Devour! The Food Film Fest, says gastronomic tourism is an essential part of travel everywhere.
“So we have grown from a little, tiny, tiny festival that was an idea-based reason to promote slow food to in fact a $9 million building with international events from around the world, because of the aim of teaching people how to know more about their food,” Howell says. “To know more about how food affects society, community, and health. That’s our underlying mantra. But to be able to learn and be able to mentor the next generation of chefs and cooks by having international chefs and filmmakers come together in one beautiful place, and then students from around the world get to meet them as well, it is helping to create a culinary fabric both with the established and the new.”
With multiple awards and Grammy nominations to their name, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers have been featured in the media numerous times including Rolling Stone magazine and “Good Morning, America”. (Photo courtesy of Devour! The Food Film Fest)
Devour! The Food Film Festival included 58 events, 45 films, 24 screenings, celebrity chef gala dinners, 16 culinary workshops, and experiential foraging and farming tours. The festival also has live music performances including a zydeco band straight from Lafayette, Louisiana, and Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers. Comeau opened this year’s festival with his film Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart. The closing film, Food and Country, is a post-COVID documentary on the restaurant business created by celebrated New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl.
The theme for 2024 Devour! event will be “Game Changers & Change Makers”. The festival will spotlight globally recognized visionaries and local heroes who are solving the world’s biggest food challenges or throwing out the rule book and creating game-changing dishes that inspire us to take action in our kitchens, in our communities, and around the world.
MORE ABOUT DEVOUR! THE FOOD FILM FEST
Website: devourfest.com
Address: 360 Main Street, Wolfville, Nova Scotia (see map below)
Notable: In February 2024, Devour! The Food Film Fest is bringing Food Network celebrity chefs and best-selling authors Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk to the fourth annual Devour! The Beach at the Green Turtle Club in Abaco Bahamas on February 1-5. The four-day event includes bala dinners, cooking classes, food-inspired films, taco parties, barbecues, and island excursions.
Nova Scotia Tourism Info: www.novascotia.com
2023 Golden Tine Awards Winners
- The 2023 Golden Tine winner for Best Feature Drama was Tran Anh Hung’s Taste of Things (Pot Au Feu), which is representing France in the 2024 Academy Awards
- The North American premiere of The Most Remote Restaurant In the World, directed by Ole Juncker, won for Best Feature Documentary and She Chef,directed by Melanie Liebheit and Gereon Wetzel, won an honourable mention in this category
- Best Short Drama was awarded to Chef de Partie by director Ágúst Þór Hafsteinsson.
- The Best Short Documentary went to Mermaid, directed by Eilif Bremer Landsend, and Skyline, directed by Devour! alum JR Reid, received an honourable mention
- Best Short Animation was awarded to Remove Hind Legs Before Consumption, directed by Finn Meisne, Lukas Windand, and Leslie Herzig.
